Authors: Tanner Van Orden, Dennis Shiozawa, Peter Searle, Ana Kokkonen, Paul Evans
Mentors: Paul Evans
Insitution: Brigham Young University
The Bonneville cutthroat trout (Onchorynchus clarki utah) is the only trout species native to the Northern and Southern Snake ranges in Eastern Nevada. Streams on the east side of both ranges flowed into Lake Bonneville 12,000 – 15,000 years ago when Lake Bonneville was at its maximum. As Lake Bonneville retreated, Bonneville cutthroat trout in these streams were left isolated. To better understand how Bonneville cutthroat trout in the study area are coping with a changing climate, we Investigated the genetic diversity of Bonneville cutthroat in the Northern and Southern Snake ranges and compared them to historic samples. We found highly differentiated cutthroat trout populations in close proximity to each other and a genetic diversity loss of up to 86.3% in the last 12 years.